Zero the Hedgehog
by Go see the new Mike Zolo
Summary: Freedom is destroyed. Several heroes have made it to Earth with Black Doom. One of those heroes where brainwashed to work for him. That was Zero. Witness the epic tales of Zero and his friends in Zero the Hedgehog. Zero must be cured...or stopped.
1. Zero Hour

**Zero the Hedgehog**

Chapter 1: Zero Hour

Freedom: the home planet to an evolved species of animals. Its location is within an alternate dimension of Earth's. Freedom's population includes some extremely fast hedgehogs. The most famous ones are Zero and Streak. They where best friends for their twelve years of living on Freedom. That was, until the day Black Doom came to be. Black Doom is an evil, demonic spirit who goes from planet to planet, conquering over each one to help increase his powers. Nobody knows why he does this except for himself. Once he arrived at Freedom, fear struck the many beings living there. It was up to Zero, Streak, and a select few of others to drive him away from their home. However in the end, Black Doom was victorious. His army had successfully defeated each and every person that opposed him. Zero, who couldn't dare let him destroy Freedom, resorted to using the seven, legendary, Chaos Emeralds, to cut open a path to another world. He sent Black Doom away, but he took them in with him. Those heroes and Black Doom all arrived at Earth, coincidentally. As for Freedom: everybody there was killed in the explosion that was caused by Black Doom's army. Zero was brainwashed to work for Black Doom ever since, and Streak and the others have been searching everywhere for a way to cure Zero and make that dark, spiritual, demon get what he deserves. This is basically how the story begins. How it continues: that's for you to find out.

Lurking in the grass was a silver hedgehog from Freedom. It was Streak. Apparently, he was hiding from something in the big, green, empty field. It seemed kind of strange how he was trying not to be spotted when nobody was there. After a moment of pure silence, he jolted forward just a little bit. As soon as he did, though, he was quickly tackled down by an orange, female, fox. "Darn it!" He said as he tumbled over a few feet. The fox and he then both started laughing with joy.

"Get up you two." A yellow echidna said from in front of both of them. He had to be extremely fast, since he appeared there without anybody noticing him. "We have better things to do than just sit around and play games." He continued to scold them.

"Whatever." Streak whined as he got up from the orange fox and stuck his tongue out at him. "You're such a kill joy, Flash." He said. "Anyways, need some help, Kitsune?" He asked the fox as he gave out his hand to her. She just smiled and took his offer as Streak pulled her up. "Thanks." She greeted him, giggling a little.

Flash just turned around to face the other direction. He didn't feel like looking at the two of them. "You two are so childish." He stated as he closed his eyes and folded his arms.

"Don't forget," Streak reminded him. "We're both the same age. Kitsune's the only one that's younger than us. She's eight years old still." He then shifted his attention over to her. "Isn't that right, Kitsune?" He chuckled as he gave her a thumb up.

Without saying anything else, Flash started walking away. He expected the other two to follow him as if he was the leader of their small group. "Just hurry up." He told them. They both then nodded at each other as they rushed beside him. The three of them: Streak, Kitsune, and Flash, all started running after a while, in the direction of the closest city to them. That was Boom City, the place where they've been hanging out since they've arrived at Earth. It's been almost a year since they left Freedom, and ever since, they haven't seen a single trace of Zero or Black Doom. Flash has been thinking for a long time now that they've left to a new planet. Streak believes that they're still here, though; as does Kitsune. Only time will tell though if they're truly here or not. And right now, time is about to start telling.

Entering Boom City, the three soul survivors of Freedom charged forward into the highly populated streets at such a high speed that they where undetected by anybody. They didn't want to talk, because their sound waves would still be heard by the people; and their goal was to never been seen or heard. Avoiding cars and any other obstacles in their way, they continued to accelerate ahead. Streak, Kitsune, and Flash had their own secret home within Boom City. In fact, that's where they were heading to right now. Until something caught their attention: a dark, strange, figure jumping out of one of the tallest buildings in the whole area. It was about the same size as Streak. "What the heck?" The silver hero said, coming to a screeching stop. Noticing this as well, Flash and Kitsune also stopped, but further up ahead.

The black, hidden, creature's feet met the wall of the sky-tall building as it started running down with a great speed and force. "What is that thing?" A few nearby people started questioning each other as the mysterious being caught their attention. Quickly, Streak and the others hid in the shadows so they wouldn't be spotted. However they still had a clear view on what was going on.

"Chaos Control!" The person said as he showed the world a red, crystal-like object. It was a red Chaos Emerald from Freedom. Due to its color, red aura formed around it and warped the dark figure to an unknown location.

"Could that be…?" Streak was astonished at what he saw, but was cut-off in the middle of his question as the person appeared right in front of him. It was exactly who they all expected it to be: Zero. "Hello, Streak." His cold, deep voice greeted him.

Everything was happening so suddenly, Streak thought. That meant a lot to him, considering how he was a fast-living hedgehog from Freedom. He and Zero stared each other in the eye: Zero feeling calm, and Streak feeling slightly scared. Kitsune and Flash both ran up beside him, in a protective manner. They didn't want anything to happen to Streak. "…How's it going, Zero?" He asked him, trying to come off as if he was okay with all of this.

"Not bad," He answered him. "I'm just stealing the Chaos Emeralds, that's all. How about you?" Zero said with an evil grin.

"Not bad, either. I'm just stopping you." His voice told him with emphasis on the ending as he aimed to punch Zero right in the face. He missed, though, as Zero's incredible smooth movements made him shift his head to the right. "…" He simply looked at Streak, annoyed. Streak looked back at him, knowing that Zero had him off guard now.

"No!" Flash roared as he jumped over Streak with his sharp, spiky knuckles. He forced his arm forward to hit Zero away, but he too missed when the black hedgehog ducked down and let the anxious echidna fly right over him. Kitsune just stood there in fear that her partners would be harmed. She couldn't even build up the courage to move.

Smiling now, Zero clutched the red Chaos Emerald in his hand as it started glowing with red aura again. "Chaos Control!" He growled once again as he evaporated away into a different location. Now, he was standing on the edge of a small building that was right next to them. "I come to say hi and you guys attack me as if I'm a bad guy. That's not a nice way to greet an old friend." He said to them as if he still remembered everything, even though he really didn't. The wind blew briskly through the spikes coming out of the back of his head as he glared down at Streak. "Is it a fight you're looking for? If so, I'd be happy to oblige."


	2. Once a Friend

**Zero the Hedgehog**

Chapter 2: Once a Friend

"How did you get that?" Streak shouted out to Zero over all of the noise. It seemed that their appearance shocked everybody at Boom City. You'd think that citizens from a highly advanced time would be able to handle a situation like this, but no. They just watched.

Holding up the red Chaos Emerald to the skies, everybody saw Zero grin at the sight of the sunlight reflecting off of his jewel, brilliantly. "Oh, you mean this?" He asked Streak. "Apparently the Chaos Emeralds from Freedom came down to Earth somehow. It's a shame it took me almost a year to find out about this though. Or else Black Doom and I would have already destroyed this little planet by now."

"You wish!" Streak growled as he pounced into the air, towards Zero. He made a fist and pulled his arm back. Then, once he reached the heights of his rival, he charged at him and threw his arm forward to pound him in the face. However, Zero swiftly equaled out Streak's force as he, as well, aimed to punch at him. Their knuckles met as they both pushed all of their power against the other. "Grrr…" They both tried to outmatch the others force until Streak finally gave up and hopped over the black hedgehog. Once he did, he landed on the roof of the building, just across from Zero. "You still never answered my question. I now know that the seven, legendary, Chaos Emeralds are here. But where and how did you get that one?"

"I stole it from within that tall building near the entrance of the city. Apparently these humans located it and brought it to take care of. It was far too easy for me to take it from them, though." He answered Streak, turning around to face him.

"What do you mean?" Kitsune asked him from below, still on the ground. She and Flash had been listening to everything.

Still not taking his attention off of Streak, Zero smirked as he began talking again. "I mean: it was a fake. I searched every corner of that building, looking for the Chaos Emerald that was claimed to be there. When I found it, it was unprotected and completely unguarded. I simply took it to see what would happen. And what happened was a bunch of G.U.N. troopers stormed in. It seemed for a moment that, that was a real Chaos Emerald. Until I noticed nobody was shooting. I knew then, that they all knew, that it was a fake. The real one was at the very top within the mayor's room. He was gone for the day, so I discovered it in his office and escaped. I must have ditched them when I used Chaos Control to warp here. But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is I have the first Chaos Emerald. And as I said before, I'd be glad to fight you; with the Chaos Emerald, or without!" He roared, dashing as fast as he could, at Streak.

"What did Black Doom do to you?" Streak asked as he jumped out of the way and off the building. He then spin dashed down, next to Kitsune and Flash. "We need to get out of here." He said. "I don't know what I was thinking. This is the power of the Chaos Emerald we're going up against. If we fight now, we'll be toast!"

"But Streak," Flash said, stopping him. "We've waited almost a year for this. What was all of that practice for? To just run away once we finally got them in our hands?" He yelled at him. He then put his two hands on Streak's shoulders and brought his face up to his. "We've worked too hard for this! We're ready!" Flash yelled at him, once more. He then let go of Streak and made two fists as he shifted his body around to face Zero. "Are you coming?" He asked the spiky hero.

After a moment of thinking this through, Streak looked at Kitsune and opened his mouth for a second. He then built up the nerve to ask her, "What do you think?"

The orange fox simply closed her eyes, not answering. Zero was just tossing the Chaos Emerald up into the air and catching it, over and over again, waiting for them. Then, Kitsune spoke up, "I think we should work together and kick his butt." She said.

Streak smiled at her response. With confidence, he bent down a little bit, getting ready for a jump. "Fine, let's work together and bring Zero down!" He said with excitement. He, Kitsune, and Flash all jumped on top of the same building as Zero. Ready for anything, they where all prepared for Zero's worse. "Bring it on!" Streak drove him in.

"Let's go!" The black hedgehog said smoothly, running towards the three heroes at a rapid speed. They all dashed at each other, knowing that there was about to be a big clash. Finally, everyone met as Zero extended his leg forward to kick Streak in the stomach. He hit him extremely hard thanks to the push of his speed. However, Kitsune jumped in right after her friend was struck, and paled her enemy in the head with her foot. Zero flew backwards, aiming right for the closest building to them. Before he hit it, though, he landed on the wall and bounced off, back at them.

Next was Flash. After getting pumped up, he began to repeat one punch after the other, hoping to hit Zero. It was useless, though, since his adversary used Chaos Control to warp to a different location. Now, he was right behind Flash. "Three on one seems a bit unfair, don't you think?" He asked him with an evil-tone, smacking his hand against the back of the yellow echidna's neck. This instantly knocked him out. Streak and Kitsune had to watch their friend drop to the hard floor, right before their eyes. "Flash!" Kitsune called out to him. Zero just chuckled a bit, saying, "So I'll just even the odds."

Streak stood there, silently in shock. "Zero…" He said. "What have you become…" He then started to remember the old good times they used to have back on Freedom. It was just incredible to him how his best friend ever could become his most feared enemy, so quickly. "Black Doom, you horrible thing… I swear you'll pay for what you've done." He said to himself, finally regaining control over his body. "But now, I got to knock some sense into that beast you made Zero!" He roared, flying towards his rival with immense speed. "Streak, no!" Kitsune tried to stop him, knowing that something bad would happen to him, too.

"If stopping you means saving you, then I'm up for it, all the way!" The silver hedgehog said.

"Good luck with that." Zero smiled, also running extremely fast, towards Streak. In moments, they both spin dashed at each other. "No!" Kitsune screamed right before they hit.


End file.
